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America
American rock band
America is a British–American rock band formed in 1970 by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley. The trio met as sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live.
Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop and soft rock stations.
labels: Warner Bros. Records, Capitol Records, Warner Records
genres: folk rock
awards: Grammy Award for Best New Artist, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, RSH-Gold for Cult Band
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
soft rockrockfolk rockfolk popaorpop rock
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Early success (1970–1973)
While their fathers were stationed at the United States Air Force base at RAF South Ruislip near London in the mid-1960s, Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek attended London Central High School at Bushey Hall, where they met while playing in two different bands.
Formed in 1969 by Gerry Beckley (guitar, piano, vocals), Dewey Bunnell (guitar, vocals) and Dan Peek (guitar, keyboards, vocals) who were all sons of US Servicemen stationed in England. They achieved success with their debut single "A Horse With No Name" which showcased their pop rock vocal harmony style. Further appearances in the singles charts followed with "Ventura Highway" and "Tin Man" along with album hits.
The band has seen various reincarnations as anything from a duo to a 7 piece outfit, with Dan Peek leaving in 1977 (although he did rejoin for a few live appearances). America are still touring and releasing live and studio albums and consists nowadays, in their 16th personnel line-up, of the core duo of Beckley & Bunnell with Willie Leacox (drums/percussion), Michael Woods (4) (guitar/vocals) and Rich Campbell (bass/vocals).
Peek & Beckley have both released solo material.
Also known as: American, Americas, América, Gpo. America, アメリカ
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
America, the records, oldest first
America
1971 album
wanted
Homecoming
1972 album
wanted
Hat Trick
1973 album
Holiday
1974 album
Hearts
1975 album
Hideaway
1976 album
Harbor
1977 album
Silent Letter
1979 album
Alibi
1980 album
View From the Ground
1982 album
Your Move
1983 album
Perspective
1984 album
Hourglass
1994 album
Human Nature
1998 album
Holiday Harmony
2002 album
Here & Now
2006 album
Here & Now Sampler
2006 ep
Back Pages
2011 album
Lost + Found
2015 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Ventura Highway" is a 1972 song by the American rock band America, released on their second studio album, Homecoming. Written by Dewey Bunnell, the song reached the #8 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #43 in the UK singles chart.
The song remains one of the band's most popular and well-recognized.
Background
Dewey Bunnell, the song's vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road, watched the clouds, and saw a road sign for Ventura.
Reception
Record World said that the "threesome come out of the desert and onto the road in this refreshing number that features those great harmonies and acoustic guitars."
Legacy
The song contains the phrase "purple rain", later the title of the 1984 song, album, film and tour, from the artist Prince. Whether any connection actually exists, both Mikel Toombs of The San Diego Union and Bob Kostanczuk of the Post-Tribune have written that Prince got the title directly from "Ventura Highway". Asked to explain the phrase "purple rain" in "Ventura Highway", Gerry Beckley responded: "You got me."
Sampling and cover versions
The song's opening guitar riff and musical hook is sampled throughout Janet Jackson's 2001 song "Someone to Call My Lover" by the production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who were influenced by America and "Ventura Highway" listening to KDWB 63 AM (Top 40) growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota (along with their close friend, musician Prince). Bunnell said the use of the sample from "Ventura Highway" and the production by Jam, Lewis and Jackson boosted sales for America.
"A Horse with No Name" is a song by British-American folk rock trio America. Written by Dewey Bunnell, it was released on the Warner Bros. label in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States.
The song met with commercial success and topped charts in Canada, Finland, and on the US Billboard Hot 100. It reached number 3 in the UK singles chart.
Critical reception
The song was banned by some US radio stations, most notably WHB in Kansas City, because of supposed drug references to heroin use. ("Horse" is a common slang term for heroin.) Yet the song ascended to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the album quickly reached platinum status. The song charted earlier on the Irish Singles Chart (reaching number 4), the Netherlands (reaching number 11) and on the UK singles chart (reaching number 3, the band's only Top 40 hit in the country) than it did in the United States.
Cover versions
In 1972, Swedish band Family Four released "En Häst Utan Namn" on their album Picknick.
